From Ideas to Practice

Abstract

Although formally democratic institutions were established in Brazil in the 1980s, to a large extent the extremely unequal power structures that characterized Brazilian political life during the military regime remain in place. Elite political groups have harnessed the electoral system to serve their own interests, and decisions continue to be made behind closed doors, with little accountability to the (poor) majority of the population. Since basic democratic institutions-such as political parties-remain weak, personalistic struggles for power often usurp meaningful political debate. These conditions have been exacerbated by a severe economic crisis that has both intensified social problems and drastically limited the capacity of the debtridden federal government to respond to them. The result, over the past decade, has been a series of political stalemates at the national level.' Municipal administrations governed by the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers' party-PT) stand out as striking examples of possibility within this frustrating picture of largely superficial democratization. Since 1988, when the PT won a significant number of mayoral elections for the first time, PT prefeituras (municipal administrations), have challenged the monopoly of traditional elites over local government in a variety of ways. Many PT administrations have successfully eliminated traditional forms of clientelism and corruption, such as the widespread practice of farming-out public works projects to select businesses at exorbitant prices. And most have experimented with lower-cost, small-scale economic development, public service, and urban-environmental projects in poor areas that incorporate greater citizen involvement and control. One central effort of PT administrations has involved citizen participation not only in the execution of government programs but also in decision making